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“Bloor is busy as is. They’re either going to go north into people’s backyards, or south into people’s backyards. And I cannot support that.”

The Open Streets project would make Yonge and Church streets pedestrian-only in part as well. During the four proposed Sundays — July 27, August 3, August 17, and August 31 — Torontonians would be able to attend mass yoga and dance classes, have their bikes repaired or play a game of soccer in the middle of the street, between 8 a.m. and 1 p.m.

Ms. Wong-Tam said the project is about physical fitness and social inclusion.

“Our objective is trying to bring Torontonians out on the streets,” she said. “Take those streets that are underutilized… and then turn them over to residents who can use them in a different way.”

Public works and infrastructure committee chair Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong spoke out against the project, saying that he was “a big fan” of exercise, but the street wasn’t the place for it.

“Certainly people need to fit in the outfits they want to buy at Holt Renfrew and Harry Rosen,” he said. “It doesn’t necessarily mean you need to close the street so they can exercise in front of the store.”

The Bloor Street project, if it goes ahead, would be just one of the road disruptions planned for this summer. Many of them are for construction work — the city announced Monday it will resurface 185 kilometres of roads this summer — but there are a growing number of closures related to street festivals and sporting events: Taste of the Danforth, Taste of the Kingsway, Taste of Little Italy, Caribana, Ride for Heart, downtown marathons and World Pride, not to mention the often spontaneous road blockages that will arise during the World Cup soccer tournament this June and July.

“I’ve spoken to some of those businesses in [Ms. Wong-Tam’s] ward… and they have some serious concerns,” he said. “Especially in the downtown core along that strip, that’s a high-end retail neighbourhood. Many of their customers drive downtown and would opt not to travel downtown because of the traffic.”

Ms. Wong-Tam, however, said the project offered an opportunity for economic development. She said case studies from other cities with Open Streets programs have shown that businesses that wouldn’t normally open on a Sunday morning opened their doors while the street was pedestrian-only.

She added that the Sunday morning timing was chosen because it would have the least impact on drivers and business owners.

Mr. Minnan-Wong also questioned the length of the proposed road closure. “Why do you need to close 11 kilometres?” he asked. “I think the length of it is pretty substantial.”

Ms. Wong-Tam said that, compared to other cities, Toronto’s open streets proposal is modest. In Bogota, Colombia, the route is 126 kilometres.

“Ours is actually really small,” she said. “It’s one of the smallest open-space routes in the world.”

The events would only “soft-close” Bloor Street, meaning vehicle traffic could still travel north and south across Bloor, according to the Open Streets website.

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